Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Grows Stock Position in Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:MPC) by 34.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,951 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 502 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Marathon Petroleum were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fountainhead AM LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum during the 4th quarter valued at $58,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Marathon Petroleum in the 4th quarter worth $709,000. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Marathon Petroleum by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC now owns 4,352 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Marathon Petroleum by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,598 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MPC shares. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $185.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Marathon Petroleum from $201.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.77.

Marathon Petroleum Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MPC opened at $199.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $191.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Marathon Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $104.32 and a 52-week high of $221.11.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $1.77. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 30.58% and a net margin of 6.44%. The firm had revenue of $36.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Marathon Petroleum Co. will post 20.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kim K.W. Rucker sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.35, for a total value of $170,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,994,026.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated downstream energy company primarily in the United States. The company operates through Refining & Marketing, and Midstream segments. The Refining & Marketing segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks at its refineries in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, and West Coast regions of the United States; and purchases refined products and ethanol for resale and distributes refined products, including renewable diesel, through transportation, storage, distribution, and marketing services.